Saturday, December 9, 2017

Fall has been incredibly full for us! But we did squeeze some fun time as a part of the BK work and spent an awesome November weekend (sunny, warm, and beautiful) on the rooftop of ACE Hotel with the team of Traveler's Company from Tokyo.

It was such a big project for Traveler's Company to visit Los Angeles and New York, especially because the event was much anticipated for many many years by so many TN fans and I was glad to be a small part of the local support in Los Angeles.

Probably the biggest highlight for me was to give big hugs to all the amazing TN fans whom I got to meet through Baum-kuchen to celebrate the day. The analogue community here is incredibly warm, encouraging and passionate and I can't thank all the customers for all the support!

Oh, and of course having Satchi and Coco visit me on the last day of the event. Frido held the homefront for the weekend while I was pretty much away for the entire weekend... and I just missed them so much to be away. It was so sweet to watch them make their own spiral notebook with special papers provided by Traveler's Company and hold their proud notebooks:)

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

When we started the conversation with The Superior Labor about the idea of making the Balloon Pants together, I sent them a few thoughts about where the inspiration came from and how I imagine these pants will make the person wearing them feel like.

The first thing I mentioned to them was Dola, a side female character from the Hayao Miyazaki animation Castle in the Sky. I watched the movie all through my childhood and never ever got tired of it. A funny connection to think about but it totally made sense to me. The dynamic lady captain of air pirate who comes across tough at the beginning but is actually incredibly kind, respectful and warm. She is a mom to her sons (who are also pirates). She is an old friend to the mechanic who works on the ship. And she becomes a friend and mentor to the young main characters, Sheetah and Pazu.

Anyways. Long story short. She wears the balloon pants all through the film and even lends one to Sheetah. I am so excited that now I can share how it feels to be a little bit like Dola. Free-spirited. Comfortable in her skin. Powerful. Adventurous.

Here are some of my favorite functional parts of the pants.

The wide volume around the legs:

I can get closer to my kids' eye-level no matter where we are, library, park or home. It doesn't matter. I can sit with them on the floor, squat down to help them pick up something or bend down to pick their bodies up as needed. I have a hard time doing that comfortably when I wear my skinny-ish jeans. And I barely wear dress or skirts for the reason.

Also, let's not forget how it doesn't cut circulation of the legs when we are on the airplane. A huge plus!

Being able to adjust the height of pants' hem:

Because the hem of the pants has elastic, I can pull up the bottom of the pants right below my knee. It comes super handy when I am at the beach and decide to splash some water at the shallow side. I also like having the bottom of the pants up when it's hot!

Big pockets:

This seems like such a simple thing but these side pockets hold so many things in the day-to-day. My phone usually fits there and I never have to worry about it falling out of the pocket. Often keys, as well as Coco's nature finds like rocks, etc. can be found in my pockets.

Washable:

I machine wash my pants regularly. I try to air dry it instead of having it go through the dryer but it has been accidentally machine dried as well. My sample version of the balloon pants is holding up super well!

I can match the pants with just about anything:

I wear it with T-shirt, a cashmere sweater, a bomber jacket. Just about anything. And literally, I wear it every day.

I can go on and on about how much I adore this pants... and I can't wait to receive the very first sets of production pants from The Superior Labor soon! We are also making a sample of a petite size! Let me know if you are interested in the size via email so I can get in touch with you when we start taking pre-order for petite:)

Monday, November 20, 2017

We started introducing Jibun Techo for 2018 this season and since it's a relatively new planner system, I get a lot of questions reg. how I am utilizing the notebook. So here it is. My visual guide to Jibun Techo weekly spread.

Here are my favorite features of the Jibun Techo.

1. Thin and smooth Tomoe River paper on the classic Jibun Techo
I adore Tomoe River paper so much for their tactile and writing quality. I use fountain pens, ballpoint pens, and pencils on my Jibun Techo and they all work great on the paper.

**Jibun Techo Biz uses different but also very beautiful ink friendly paper

2. The ability to dedicate the x-axis of the notebook for my needs
The weekly layout has flexible yet consistent structure and it's so easy to dedicate specific elements and needs for the spread. Since I use this planner for everything in my life including appointments, BK, homeschooling, marathon training, etc. etc... I decided to use different rows of the weekly spread for what is relevant to my every day. So instead of documenting today's mood, weather (which are available to document as pre-set layout if you would like), I use the rows for hours I worked for BK, mileages I run for marathon training, morning gratitude, appointments, homeschool learning records, today's task list, etc.

I love the being able to mix and match pretty much everything I need to document, remember, plan for each week.

3. The week's task list on the left column
Every Sunday, I write down (and migrate) the week's schedule and to do list for the week. It's so handy to have them written on the same page as my weekly spread. Life can be complicated for all of us... and planner system doesn't have to be.

I use my monthly pages as a master planner. All the future appointments go there and only there so there is no scheduling conflict that happen when we have multiple planners going on! I am shifting to use pencils on my master planner since my schedule changes frequently and the page is becoming a big chaos with appointments written and crossed off only to be marked again! (life!!!)

I haven't really used the project tracker pages yet. It's something I might incorporate when I start working on a larger scale BK project (which is in planning phase now!). I have one list page dedicated to blog/story ideas and did use the book list available. I think I will need to convert some of the preset task lists in 2018 planner to my own lists so they are more useful.

I carry the Jibun Techo Underlay Mat (love the "today" tab) as well as their Sticky Notes which I am so in love with their minimalistic design. And currently, my Jibun Techo is housed in our [TSLxBK] Original Cover. We are taking pre-orders for the upcoming production that is expected to be delivered in early 2018! And yes. We are making a prototype for B6 slim size right now and as soon as we approve the design, we will start taking preorders.

If you have any thoughts/questions/ideas, please shoot us an email. I would love to continue incorporating your question into the stories we share!

Because this trip required us to be very mobile (visiting 3 different locations in 5 days), Eunice and I really worked hard to simplify what we brought with us. One of the BK mantra is to "be light" and it was empowering to see how compact we could be on the road!

Also traveling is one of the best opportunities for our BK team to test out the artifacts we adore. Whatever we decided to bring had to endure some serious wear and tear as we went through the airport, crowded train stations, packing and unpacking at the destination, etc. etc.

So here is what we tested and loved during this trip.

My check-in luggage on this trip was TSL Backpacker. It did get heavy on the shoulder when I put my clothes, toiletry, umbrella, extra lightweight shoes, and a laptop (laptop was in there when the bag was not checked in for flight), but the convenience of being able to throw my luggage on my back when we transferred from a train to ferry then to a bus was pretty premium. And the Backpacker NEVER got confused with other suitcases when it was time for me to find it at the luggage pickup. As a carry-on, I carried TSL Engineer Shoulder Bag. This bag has been so worn in... with all the trips it has accompanied us. I just love it so much.

I carried my most important items such as passport, cash, credit cards, etc. in my Travel for Life Wallet inside of my Traveler's Notebook (TN Olive) and kept it safe in my Engineer Pouch with Pocket along with our itinerary. Japan is a pretty safe country to travel but it made me feel better to know that my makeshift Traveler's Notebook "wallet" really didn't look like a wallet. I had a "Wander" refill notebook in my Traveler's Notebook cover and used up the entire notebook during the trip. I clipped TSL Pen Holder Clip on the cover of the Traveler's Notebook so I was never short of my favorite writing instruments. Oh and you saw me in the Traveling Balloon Pants pretty much through the entire trip. I was so glad to test this pair of pants before we started taking preorder for our customers. It's one of the most comfortable pants to wear. When it was raining, I pulled it up to my knees so the hems didn't get wet. Then I layered it with leggings when it got chilly at night. (And there is a good chance I am wearing it "again" today as I write this story).

I also enjoyed seeing Eunice try our her ateliers PENELOPE knapsack. (Medium Size in Navy) She used it as her carry-on and the bag's 2 external pockets which faced her back when she carried it came so handy to keep her Traveler's Notebook (as her wallet) safe yet handy. The drawstrings got little easier to pull over time but I think it will require few more adventures before they get softer.

This trip really made me re-think of what we need in life. How easy and light it felt to have less with us... and knowing whatever we decided to carry REALLY belonged to our hearts.

Our last stop in Okayama was the art island "Naoshima". When we visited this very special island last year with Satchi and Coco, both Frido and I were blown away by how impactful "experiencing the art" could be to us.

This time around, being there was just as magical... but in a really different way. I was inspired by the power of a "place" and travel. Various art pieces that were exhibited on Naoshima Island left me such an impression a year ago. Experiencing it again brought back such a vivid memory yet this time I experienced it more objectively. It was like revisiting the moments as a third person with the ability to be able to see more unobvious... things I might have missed last time and also to be more aware of the feelings I might have had back then.

I also really appreciated that this island was local yet very international. Eunice and I encountered a lot of different art visitors from all over the world. Yet we also noticed that people who were native to the island seemed to be very present and beyond kind as we explored. We arrived on Monday when most of the museums were closed and the entire island felt like it was closed. We looked up one restaurant that was supposed to be opened only to find out that it was closed for the day when we got there. Eunice and I were walking around the neighborhood that felt a little bit like a ghost village trying to figure out the dinner plan when a local grandpa found us and offered to help find some kind of food we could take home. He first walked us to the neighborhood market only to find it completely sold out then drove us to the nearest convenient store so we could purchase the Bento for dinner. We were beyond thankful. I know stories like this will stay with us for many many years.

I also very much enjoyed walking on the beach and having some quiet time to myself. Reflecting and writing down whatever came to my mind. To me... those quiet moments away from our everyday routines are the most impactful part of the travel.

After our stay in Naoshima, we took a ferry ride back home to enjoy one last day in the city of Okayama and treated ourselves to the "real" Japanese lunch with Kaiseki course and a good round of coffee while doing some BK research at Loft in Okayama city!

I am so glad that Eunice was able to trek with me on this adventure and so wished that Nerine were able to come with us too. (She had to cancel the trip in last minute for the family matter).

We are also so thankful to be able to continue sharing big and small adventure with you. I hope these stories stir some thoughts and ideas for your future adventure!